Mini-Review: Boxhead The Zombie Wars

In Boxhead: The Zombie Wars, you're on your own in a land overrun by Zombies and demons. There's several play modes depending on your mood. Select from three different battlefields: Close Combat, Death Alley, and Welcome to Hell, and choose your level: Beginner, Intermediate, and Nightmare. Close Combat is exactly what it sounds, more shooting and less navigating. Death Alley and Hell are small gameboards that require you to move around. You navigate by using a round directional controller on the left, and shoot with a single button on the right. No matter your battlefield, as you progress through the levels, you gain access to bigger and better weapons and defensive barricades that you can switch out by tapping on your current choice in the bottom center of your screen.

On the plus side, the game accommodates a pretty big range of skill level, even giving you the option of turning off the big, mean, red demons that shoot fire. If you want the challenge, you're rewarded, as the demons offer up a bit of your health back on their demise. The game is a pretty simple, action-based shooter game, and allows you to set the difficulty where you want it, ramping up accordingly.

The simplicity can be a bit of a drawback, though. As designed, the game is really what you make of it. It has very basic graphics and only the sound of shots as background. If you're looking for flashy animation and a killer soundtrack, you won't find it here. The basic template, though, provides a good platform to think strategically and long-term. The single-purpose controls are ideal for this, especially on the smaller iPhone and Touch screens, though I did have a little bit of a sensitivity issue in getting my avatar to grasp the nuance of angled directions as opposed to just up/down and left/right. Also, the game did get a bit choppy when a lot of action happened at once on screen, and had a hard time keeping up with quickly and accurately displaying vitals and choosing weaponry.

I'm not a particularly known for my strategery, so the $2.99 pricetag might be a bit more than I'd be willing to pay, though I did feel competent right off the bat, and the game did keep me well-entertained with minimal glitches. It also should be noted the game is available as a free PC version that is likely easier to play and offers a bit more content.